“Are we under attack?” asked Professor Elmarie Biermann of the Cyber Security Institute during the recent South African Centre for High Performance Computing’s (CHPC) National Conference in Cape Town. A quick show of hands from ~10 percent of the audience revealed that even a technically well-informed community of practice doesn’t realize that we’re always under attack. 

“We are in the early stages of a cold cyber war that could quickly escalate into a hot cyber war that would ultimately spill into a full-scale kinetic war,” said Biermann.

Cyber warfare refers to the use of digital attacks by one country to disrupt the vital computer systems of another with the intention of causing damage, death and/or destruction. When it comes to power grids, the water supply, defense installations and community services, both offensive and defensive maneuvers are underway in every country; none are exempt.

“We tend to think it’s only the nation-states that engage in warfare, but civilians comprise the network of criminals, hacktivists and insiders,” she said. “All are actors in today’s cyber warfare landscape,” said Biermann.

They can exploit everything from our high-performance computing systems (HPC) all the way down to our mobile phones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. “We buy smart devices, bring them home, and don’t change the default settings,” she said. “This is one of the biggest dangers of IoT—especially if the devices or chips are manufactured in countries that lack regulations on privacy or where there are state-sponsored initiatives that intend to cause harm to other countries.”

Hactivists often target government websites, “just because they can,” she said. Defacing a website may not have a big impact, but it’s low-hanging fruit that lets everyone know of their intentions. Some countries are better-prepared to fight cybercrime. China, for example, employs an estimated 50,000-100,000 cyber warriors.

Criminal networks have a huge capacity for disruption. They are run like a business and turn billions of dollars for the syndicate, making use of cyberinfrastructure and skilled IT personnel. Criminal networks invest in research and development intended to undo whatever R&D is put in place to protect government, commercial and private assets. They’re likely to exploit IoT to collect a record of the most vulnerable points of entry. There are well-funded, and well-staffed criminal organizations that conduct hacking and a range of other e-services for hire, or they sell tools that can be used for crime. In one case, an organization was making ATM skimmers that could be purchased for under 50 Rands (less than $4.00 US). “It allows you to sit in your car near the ATM and use your computer to capture PINs, and account information,” she said.

The Shadow brokers, rumored to be a Russian entity, obtained access to a vault of software tools developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and made it available for everyone to use. “Visiting the Dark Web is like going to the pawn shop to see if your data is there,” she said. In one case, 300 million euros were generated by a single piece of code, and that money was then used to fund additional illicit operations.

Their financial transactions are conducted via cryptocurrency that is more difficult to track; especially when traversing international borders. While the address of the transaction can be discovered, it’s nearly impossible to track it to an individual. The geographic footprint is often intentionally-misleading in order to throw detectives off.

Ransomware isn’t new, but the targets and methodologies used by those who kidnap data and systems change, depending on the market. Because people tend to reuse passwords, it’s easier for criminals to gain access to their information, for example, which websites are visited, and even their bank balance. If the person visits a pornographic site—and, say that person is a priest or K-12 teacher, for example—it’s relatively easy to conduct “sextortion.” They are sent a message that, when opened, injects malware that hijacks their computer. They then receive some form of ransom note that indicates their data or computer won’t be released until they send a certain amount of funds (possibly the amount they have in the bank) to a cryptocurrency wallet. In such cases, victims are less likely to report the crime since it’s professionally embarrassing, and the amount at stake is unlikely to be a financial burden. With critical mass, a lot of money can be made by criminals this way. Unfortunately, once systems are comprised, the victim can be held hostage again and again in the future. When it happens, it’s always best to alert authorities and have the system cleaned by a professional.

“Many believe that if they see the little lock on the task bar that their transactions are safe, but bad guys also utilize encryption technology, such as SSL, in order to give the illusion of trust so they can be more successful in phishing attacks,” she said.

“Botnets are little pieces of code that install malware on your system,” said Bierman. It may not appear to be a problem from your side, and your system may not perform badly, but it allows the orchestrator to potentially command resources from millions of laptops, or HPC systems, for that matter. “Any system is only as safe as the latest antivirus definition files and operating system updates that are installed,” she said. Safe environments require vigilance and hard work to maintain. In fact, most attacks against HPC resources aren’t intended to capture data; the criminals try to harness unguarded computational power. But if a system is hijacked for use in an international crime, the center that manages the vulnerable system could become embroiled in an investigation and criminal case; they might even face some liability. That is why you would never want to sell computational cycles to a third-party (or nation-state) without a contract that acknowledges exactly how the power, storage and networks under your watch are being employed.

“Power is in the hands of those who control information,” she said. “What would you do if the services and software you rely on for business and social activities are based in a country that is currently under attack?” She cited the case of Russian interference in the U.S. elections, and how Facebook and Google were accused of furthering the agendas of paying customers who had criminal intent.

Fake news is intended to manipulate feelings and is a form of cyberattack. With broad public adoption of the tools and services used to perpetuate fake news, it’s easier to influence election outcomes.

“Many think that Google is impartial, but in reality, it’s ad-driven,” she said, and added, “Google renders the results that it wants you to buy.” Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being weaponized to conceal and accelerate cyberattacks in order to escalate the damage they can cause,” said Biermann. She provided a list of tools that can help keep social environments safe: Duckduckgo, Opera, Yandex, SocialMention, SocialBearing, Md5, and Shodan.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

Biermann suggests installing a VPN on personal devices which adds another layer of encryption. Install virus protection on your phones. Fewer than one percent protect their mobile phones, but Internet penetration in many sub-Saharan African regions was originally initiated and continues to be largely via mobile device. “And don’t use the free stuff; there is always a cost,” she added. Moving forward, decide to become proactive, vs. reactive.

Biermann and her colleagues also presented at the Understanding Risk in Shared Cyberecosystems (URISC) workshop led by Meshack Ndala (CHPC) during the CHPC National Conference that drew 571 participants from dozens of countries. URISC was named after a STEM-Trek cybersecurity workshop that was co-located with SC17.

The CHPC19 National Conference venue and dates will be announced soon. Watch the STEM-Trek and CHPC sites for more information.

About the Author

HPCwire Contributing Editor Elizabeth Leake is a consultant, correspondent and advocate who serves the global high performance computing (HPC) and data science industries. In 2012, she founded STEM-Trek, a global, grassroots nonprofit organization that supports workforce development opportunities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholars from underserved regions and underrepresented groups.

As a program director, Leake has mentored hundreds of early-career professionals who are breaking cultural barriers in an effort to accelerate scientific and engineering discoveries. Her multinational programs have specific themes that resonate with global stakeholders, such as food security data science, blockchain for social good, cybersecurity/risk mitigation, and more. As a conference blogger and communicator, her work drew recognition when STEM-Trek received the 2016 and 2017 HPCwire Editors’ Choice Awards for Workforce Diversity Leadership.